200 protected birds seized in raids

By Express News Service - HYDERABAD 13th May 2013

Law forbids hunting, selling or breeding of the national bird.
It is also illegal to pet any bird, reptile, mammal or amphibian
listed in the schedules of the Wildlife Protection Act.| EPS

As many as 200 Partridges were seized on Sunday by the anti-poaching squad which raided two places in Rangareddy district and Nalgonda town. Partridge, commonly known as Kanda Pitta in Telugu, is a protected bird. The seized birds were being sold in open market.

“We raided Kalanagar village in Hayathnagar mandal of Rangareddy district and a place in Nalgonda town where these protected birds were being sold for around Rs 50 each. People eat these birds,” said SK Baba Khadir Vali, deputy range officer, anti-poaching squad. The birds, according to him will be handed over to Nehru Zoological Park.

As many as five persons were arrested under section 9 and 39 of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, in this connection. The raids were conducted a day after a similar operation to rescue peacocks in the city.

The owner of the pet shop, whose house in the old city was raided to rescue 12 peacocks, is out of town.

According to officials, he was breeding peacocks in the cellar of his house.

Law forbids hunting, selling or breeding of the national bird. It is also illegal to pet any bird, reptile, mammal or amphibian listed in the schedules of the Wildlife Protection Act.

“Petting of scheduled birds is quite common in the city. In most cases, it is lack of awareness among the public. However, some pet shop owners commit the offence knowingly for monetary gain,” said an official.

Source: http://newindianexpress.com/cities/hyderabad/200-protected-birds-seized-in-raids/2013/05/13/article1587705.ece

Tiger reserves to get full-time wildlife vets

Vijay Pinjarkar, TNN May 11, 2013
NAGPUR: In a bid to tackle man-animal conflict and give conservation a boost, the state government has decided to hire independent wildlife veterinarians in all four tiger reserves in the state.

After recent deliberations over raging man-animal conflict in Chandrapur, principal secretary (forests) Praveen Pardeshi, chief wildlife warden SWH Naqvi and field directors of tiger reserves decided to appoint wildlife vets. Directions to recruit trained vets on contract basis in Tadoba, Melghat and Pench in Vidarbha have been issued on May 7.

Pardeshi has asked field directors to recruit vets from funds under tiger conservation foundations (TCFs) on a honorarium of Rs 30,000. They have been asked to get in touch with deans of veterinary colleges and teachers to get suitable candidates. Help has also been sought from state animal husbandry commissioner.

Presently, the department has only one wildlife vet, Chitra Raut, posted at Nagpur. In case of emergencies, help from senior experts from Nagpur Veterinary College is taken. Although vets in Nagpur respond immediately, on many occasions doctors were not available in case of emergencies, proving fatal for wild animals.

Recently, when a tiger cub was hit by a speeding train and shifted to Nagpur, Raut had gone to Chandrapur to bring the animal back.

"We are making provision in the TCF budget to appoint wildlife vet on contract. There is also plan to redesignate posts of medical officers available with the department," said Virendra Tiwari, chief conservator of forests (CCF) and field director of Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve ( TATR) in Chandrapur.

However, Sarjan Bhagat, additional principal chief conservator of forests (subordinate cadre), said there are six posts of medical officers with the forest department but only one from Yavatmal Circle could be made available as officers at other places like Gadchiroli and forest training colleges have said they need posts of medical officers for staff and villagers.

"We will send a proposal in this regard to the government," Bhagat said.

Rare snake spotted in state for the first time

By Express News Service - BELLARY 11th April 2013

Coluber bolanathi | Express Photo

A rare mildly venomous snake Coluber bolanathi, commonly known as Nagarjun Sagar Racer, has been discovered for the first time at Bellary in Karnataka.

The 31-inch C. Bolanathi was rescued by conservationist and businessman Aditya Vattam from the backyard of a house near Bellary Fort recently.

Coluber bolanathi is found in dry and rocky hills of South India. It was first spotted in Nallamala hills of Andhra Pradesh in 1976 by R C Sharma but there is no record of it in Karnataka till now, Vattam told Express.

A member of indiansnakes.org, Vattam sent its photographs to the portal founder Vivek Sharma for identification.

Sharma confirmed that it was the first record of the snake in Karnataka.

He told Express that after the discovery of the snake in 1976, there were no significant attempts to study this species due to lack of literature and photographs.

C. bolanathi is chocolate brown with numerous light brown bands in the back of its body. It is a fast and alert species, active during the day. The racer can grow upto 110 cm, said Vattam.

As dry and rocky hills are the preferred habitat of this snake, the conservationist  urged for the protection of the rocky hills of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka to ensure the safety of this little known snake.

Source: http://newindianexpress.com/states/karnataka/Rare-snake-spotted-in-state-for-the-first-time/2013/04/11/article1539767.ece

Hand-reared rhino has a baby, a first for India

Saira Kurup, TNN | Apr 6, 2013
Forest officials in India have notched up a proud first. Nine years after she was rescued from the swirling flood waters of the Brahmaputra in Kaziranga national park, Ganga has become the first hand-reared one-horned rhino in the country to give birth to a calf.

The delivery took place in the wild in Manas national park. Bhaskar Choudhury, regional head, northeast India, IFAW-WTI (International Fund for Animal Welfare-Wildlife Trust of India), is feeling as proud as a new parent. "This is the most significant news for rhinos and their rehabilitation. The success of a rehab programme depends on the species producing their offspring. We are very happy," he says. IFAW-WTI runs a programme with the Assam forest department to bring rhinos back to Manas, which lost all its rhinos to poaching in 2000.

In July 2004, a badly injured Ganga, then four months old, was rescued from Kaziranga and brought to WTI's rehab centre. The calf was in shock after being separated from its mother. "The basic challenge was to make it survive after the mother could not be found," says Choudhury. Ganga was then gently hand-reared, bottle-fed and weaned for three years, before being gradually acclimatised to the wild in Manas -- her interaction with humans almost ceased, except for periodic medical assessments.

All those efforts have now borne fruition. On Friday, Ganga's three-day-old female calf was first sighted by wildlife experts around noon. "We have been observing them for the past few hours and the calf is suckling every few minutes. Ganga too has adopted the calf. These are good signs, as the chances of rejection by hand-reared rhino mothers are more, than by those in the wild," says Choudhury.

WTI started the rhino re-introduction programme in Manas in 2006. Overall, five hand-reared and radio-collared rhinos have been introduced in Manas so far. The calf's birth is a significant development for the country, which has only 2500 one-horned rhinos now. Manas has 23, and the rest are in Kaziranga. Last year, 20 rhinos were killed by poachers in Kaziranga and this year, 13 have been killed in the first three months alone. "Our biggest worry for the calf is that it will be orphaned if its mother is targeted by poachers," adds Chowdhury. He is hopeful that the two other hand-reared female rhinos in Manas would take cue from Ganga and add to the rhino numbers soon.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Hand-reared-rhino-has-a-baby-a-first-for-India/articleshow/19407874.cms

Five chitals translocated to Ralamandal sanctuary

Bagish K Jha, TNN | Apr 5, 2013

The translocation was important, as for
the first time an entire exercise was executed by
the state forest department with the
technical guidance of Wildlife Institute of India (WII).

INDORE: Five chitals (spotted deer) were successfully translocated to Ralamandal Wildlife Sanctuary during the wee hours of Tuesday. It is first time in the recent past when the translocation of wildlife has been done without any fatalities and injuries; all the chital were in healthy condition at the time of their introduction in Ralamandal.

Fifteen more chitals will be translocated to Ralamandal from Van Vihar in Bhopal during the next one month. The forest department will monitor the movement of the chital for one month and if everything remains fine then the chital will be translocated to Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary, Narsinghpur and few other reserved forest areas in state.

Principal Secretary of forest department, BP Singh said they were scared before the translocation of the chital, so only five were sent in the first batch. "The success of the translocation has given confidence to the department now, so, many such translocations will be carried out in the coming months," Singh said adding that the translocated animals will be monitored for next one month.

The translocation was important, as for the first time an entire exercise was executed by the state forest department with the technical guidance of Wildlife Institute of India (WII). "WII gave us intellectual inputs in preparing the plan for the movement and the Boma van in which the animals was transported, was brought from South Africa," Singh said.

Forest minister Sartaj Singh was excited about the translocation exercise. "We are happy that everything was done successfully without causing any injury to the animals. It will help the department in gaining expertise in this process and will open up avenues for further translocation," the forest minister said.

Elaborating about the movement, the chief conservator of forest (CCF), PC Dubey said they were waiting for this for quite some time. "Chital are very sensitive animal and they suffer from capture myopathy syndrome under which an animal gets shocked when captured and transported. Many times, a chital dies or sustains injuries during translocation," Dubey said, adding that this time, the department has come up with a successful technique to deal with it.

A Boma vehicle, specially designed for the purpose, was used to capture the animal in their natural condition. Then in the late evening, the van started from Van Vihar and it was stopped at Daulatpur were the chital were given fodder and after a five-hour drive, they were released in Ralamandal.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Five-chitals-translocated-to-Ralamandal-sanctuary/articleshow/19397882.cms